𓆩♡𓆪

11 MONTHS.

11 months since Brooke's world got turned upside down—literally and 10 months since she had been kicked out of her home. At this point she's gathered all her stuff from her house—all her clothes and important things at least. Shawn refused to let her back home, even with the pleading from his wife and son.

Brooke had given up trying to come back to the house she grew up in a while ago.

"Danny," Brooke whispers his name, slightly annoyed with his insistent counting. She sits on the roof of her old house as Danny recounts his quarters for the millionth time. "Five bucks!" He shouts. Brooke shutters at his yelling as he hops off the roof. "Have fun! Be safe!" Brooke calls out to him. He grabs his green bike, waving to his sister before rushing to meet the boys at the arcade.

She can only stay on the roof for a certain amount of time alone before an ache starts in her heart. It's Halloween time—her favorite time. Brooke Martel should not be this sad. Always thinking that getting away from this house would be her saving grace but with Danny. Danny isn't there with her at Hopper's house.

THE TRIO OF HAWKINS stands against the brick wall of Hawkins High. "I still think you should dress up," Brooke nudges Jonathan. They've been trying so desperately to think of a trio costume idea but it all falls flat thanks to Jonathan.

"I'm not even doing anything. Why do I need to dress up?" Jonathan rolls his eyes. "You're going to some party, or maybe you can just look cool for the kids or while you pick a drunk Brooke off the floor," Paisley points to Brooke who mocks her with her hand as if it was talking.

"Worst comes to worst, angel and devil, Paisley," Brooke says. "I'm the angel—right?" Paisley raises an eyebrow. "You know that Brooke loves irony. She's the angel," Jonathan says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Brooke opens her mouth to make another comment regarding her costume but the sound of screeching tires stops her. A teal 1979 Camaro nearly makes her eyes pop out of her head as it parks not that far from her.

Brooke steps forwards from the wall, "Who the hell bought that?" She chuckles and turns to her friends who just shrug. A blonde man gets out with a mullet and then a little redhead girl who doesn't even take a second to say goodbye to the blonde dude.

"I wanna learn how to skateboard," Paisley pouts. "You'd fall on your ass immediately. Let's go," Jonathan turns towards the school with Paisley but Brooke keeps her eyes on the car. "Brooke, weirdo. Let's go," Paisley walks over and tugs Brooke away who still has her eyes on the beautiful car in front of her.

FIRST PERIOD ENDS AND the three walk out of their shared class along with Nancy Wheeler.

Brooke zones off but the sound of Tina's voice and her shoving an orange paper into her hand catches her attention. "Don't burn my house to the ground, okay?" Tina snaps her gum. Brooke deadpans, looking down at the paper, "Come and get sheet faced? Yeah, I might burn it only for the cheesiness. Bye, Tina," Brooke teases the girl who just laughs it off.

See, not everyone hates Brooke Martel. "Can I get one more?" Nancy turns to her as Jonathan and Paisley keep walking.

Nancy shoves the neon orange paper into Jonathan's hands and both Paisley and Brooke jump in excitement. "Jonathan Byers, you are going to this party!" Paisley shakes him by the shoulders. Jonathan reads off the shitty slogan just like Brooke did and then glances at the three excited girls next to him, "No, I'm not."

Their shoulders drop. Nancy rolls her eyes, "I can't let you sit all alone on Halloween. That's just not acceptable."

"Yeah, see. Last year he made us come home early from a party just to eat a pile of candy in his room," Brooke whispers to Nancy who fakes a gasp. "You voluntarily ate all that candy. Plus, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone. I'm going trick or treating with Will," Jonathan explains. "Wha—when were you gonna tell us this?" Paisley points her finger from herself to Brooke. Jonathan just rolls his eyes, knowing he probably explained it to them at some point. "All night?" Nancy asks.

"Yeah," He simply answers. Brooke scoffs and moves herself to be in front of the group, "Liar."

"You'll be home by 8pm, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something," Nancy says. Brooke nods in agreement. She only has to blame herself for introducing him to the Talking Heads though. "Sounds like a nice night," Jonathan shrugs. They get to Nancy's locker and they all stop.

Brooke looks to the side of her as the conversation continues. Steve Harrington turns the corner with sunglasses on and she almost wants to ruin the jumpscare he has in store for Nancy but she just steps back, letting him pick his girlfriend up by the waist with a yelp from her.

Nancy turns and smacks him the chest, "Take those stupid things off," She refers to his ugly sunglasses. They're just plain black and yet he makes them look so bad. "I missed you," Steve whispers and the three left standing there awkwardly faintly hear it. Brooke and Paisley scrunch their nose in disgust as they practically swallow each other.

Paisley's small crush on Nancy has dissipated over the past almost year. She decided her heart couldn't take it—Nancy only sees her as a sister. How stupid is she to think another girl would like girls in the small town of Hawkins?

"Let's just go," Brooke goes to shove Jonathan but he's already gone and down the hall. They start their own walk down the hall but Brooke looks back at the couple who are giggling in each other's arms. Absolutely gross.

BROOKE TOSSES THE BIG rock up and down in her hand. Paisley stands next to her with her hoodie over her head, "Brooke, do it now so we can go back to my house."

Brooke grinds her teeth at the new car in front of her. Shawn's new car. Danny told her about it. She figures he can afford it now with one less mouth to feed. The back windshield staring her right in the face.

"Get ready to run, Paisley," Brooke now stares at the rock in her hand. "Jesus, hurry up—"

The glass shatters at the impact of the rock. Both girls jump back. Brooke stares at the hole in the windshield, "Holy shit!" She whispers excitedly. Her eyes shift to the living room light turning on. "Shit!" Both girls curse and start running in the direction of Paisley's house.

"You think he'll know?" Paisley asks as they continue running. "Nah, Shawn has the most enemies out of everyone I know. Let's go!"

"HOW BADLY ARE WE going to get yelled at?" Brooke rolls her head to the side towards Hopper as the car pulls up in the cabin. Hopper looks down at his watch, "15 minutes late? Only minimal yelling. Come on," He hops out of the car and Brooke does the same. The cabin stands in the middle of trees, no light to help guide the way.

Hopper opens the door, both of them hanging up their jackets and other belongings. Hopper walks over to grab a beer and Brooke walks over to her own room to throw her bag onto her bed. Band posters and photos of her and the kids or her friends all over the wall. The room is much smaller than her old room. The only bonus is Hopper let her get a full mattress rather than the twin one she had before.

Brooke walks back out and her eyes land on the half eaten waffles at the table, "She ate dessert before dinner again."

Hopper sips his beer and walks over to it, "Hey, what'd we talk about?"

"No signal," El says as they both sit down. Hopper and Brooke glance at each other. "Told you we'd get yelled at," Brooke sighs. "What?" Hopper calls out.

"No signal," She repeats, "It's 8-1-5. You are late." The bedroom door clicks open and Brooke makes an I told you so face, at Hopper. "We lost track of time. We'll signal next time, alright?" Brooke smiles at her as she walks over to the table.

"And, uh, it's 8:15. Not 8-1-5," Hopper gently corrects El. Brooke is starving as she waits for El to sit down next to her. Curly hair with overalls and one of Brooke's old sweaters around her. "Eight—fifteen," El says.

"Now, what'd we talk about?" Hopper points to the waffles in the middle of the table, "Dinner first, then dessert. Always."

"It's a rule, El-Bear," Brooke teases her with the nickname she came up with based off the CareBears. El jerks her head back in annoyance but nods, "Yes."

They each smile and take the tin foil off to start eating. A warm feeling in Brooke's stomach forms each time they eat together, peacefully, as a little family. All she wishes is that somehow, Danny could get out of there.

A COUPLE HOURS GO by as Hopper and Brooke continue to slump into the couch. Some cheesy movie is on but Brooke stopped paying attention. "You're going out for Halloween, right?" Hopper asks as he turns to look at her. Brooke nods, yes, "Yeah, Paisley and I. We're gonna force Jonathan to go though."

"Go where?" Hopper questions. "Out, Hopper," Brooke sasses. She isn't used to someone necessarily caring where she is or what time she'd be home. If she wasn't dead—her parents didn't care. Hopper knows Brooke well enough now to somewhat understand that. He always knows how argumentative she is and how stubborn so he's too tired to prod and poke her about Halloween.

"Get to bed, kiddo," Hopper playfully shoves her. Brooke yawns, damaging property takes a lot out of you. She makes her way to her bedroom and turns to Hopper, "Goodnight—oh, you're kidding me." She rolls her eyes at an already asleep Hopper and just makes her way to bed.

BROOKE STRETCHES HER ARMS out. She rubs her eyes and lets out a scream as the blurry image of something white stands in front of her. "Boo!" El flatly says as she holds her arms up under the sheets. "Fuck, I mean—don't say that!" Brooke sternly points at El. She swings her legs over the bed and her feet touch the floor. "Halloween," El says.

"Brooke, come get breakfast before school!" Hopper yells. Brooke sighs. The only reason she even gets up is because she wants to be alive and ready for the party tonight. "Alright," Brooke gently pushes El back, "I need to get dressed—"

"Trick or treating?"

"You can't go trick or treating, El," Brooke shakes her head. El stands at the doorway, the sheet with eyes cut open still on her. Brooke pushes her back a bit more by her head and closes the door. The angel wigs and white dress hang from her closet as she gets herself together for school.

She closes her eyes as she puts her shirt on but then all the sudden, the air around her gets harder to breath, even after she puts the shirt on. The heaving in her chest quickens and Brooke is taken back to that night all those months ago where she was nearly either crushed or eaten to death. Her body goes cold for a second but a knock on the door makes her jump. The Demogorgon suddenly disappears from her head and the warmth comes back to her body.

Brooke shakes her head, feeling stupid for something so small affecting her at the most random times.

"Brooke, breakfast—"

"I'm coming!" Brooke harshly cuts off Hopper and swings over the door, "I'm here. I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something—"

"Not hungry!" She repeats as she grabs her hoodie off the coat rack. "Hey, there's no need to yell, alright? Do you at least have lunch money?" Hopper has no idea why he asked. He knows she probably spent it on something like weed or cigarettes.

Brooke is thankful for his gentle approaches at times. Other times, there's a full blown out argument in the house but it has and never will reach a point where Hopper puts his hands on her, Brooke knows that.

"No," Brooke says. Hopper sighs and gives her two dollars, "Get in the car."

Brooke waves bye to El and stomps over to the chief's truck. She takes deep breaths and can only hope she doesn't start crying on the way to school. She actually put on eyeliner for the first time in a while—it's a special occasion, her favorite holiday so of course she needed to. Hopper gets in a minute later and starts it up, "You okay?" He asks before backing up.

"Fine. It's my favorite day of the year, why wouldn't I be?" Brooke fakes a smile.